Chapter 75 075 King Qi was subjected to a personal attack!
September 19th, another day for the morning court assembly.
The dawn of late autumn was not as cold as winter, but the whistling morning wind in front of the main hall made several ministers habitually hunch their shoulders.
As usual, Xiao Rong huddled together with several dukes and marquises around him, chatting idly in low voices.
When the third prince was demoted for petitioning to depose the crown prince, his drinking buddies all distanced themselves from him. But in July, the crown prince was indeed deposed and died from poison, with no chance of regaining the throne. Then, these same drinking buddies were willing to invite him back for drinks, food, and boasting. Xiao Rong inwardly despised them, but such was the fickleness of human nature. On the surface, Xiao Rong still smiled and maintained good relations. He couldn't rely on his drinking buddies in a life-or-death crisis; at least he could find someone to help him in the future if he arranged a cushy job for a good-for-nothing junior.
"Oh, not again?"
A marquis standing opposite Xiao Rong suddenly exclaimed in surprise towards the back of the group.
Xiao Rong turned his head and saw a figure dressed in a blue robe and wearing a xiezhi crown. In fact, it was not uncommon for censors from the Censorate to wear this attire to impeach high-ranking officials in the capital. Sometimes one would appear every two years, and sometimes several would appear in a year. The ministers, while worried about being implicated, had gradually gotten used to it.
Xiao Rong was in charge of guarding Jianchun Gate. This job was important but simple, and didn't involve much in the power struggles among court officials, so Xiao Rong was never afraid of impeachments from the censors. Every time he saw the censors in their robes appear before the main hall, Xiao Rong was the most composed, simply watching the spectacle. But this composure completely disappeared after his third son impeached the Crown Prince, and he became more afraid than anyone else of catching a glimpse of the censors in their robes before the morning court session.
As fate would have it, when the censor approached, it turned out to be his own third son. Xiao Rong instinctively took a step forward, but after only a few steps, he noticed the mocking looks from the other civil and military officials who were waiting to see what would happen. Xiao Rong pursed his lips, put on a stern face, gave the debt collector a heavy snort, and retreated to his seat.
"It seems that in this impeachment, Marquis Xiao has once again been kept in the dark by Chief Physician Xiao?"
Of the three sons of the Xiao family, the eldest, Xiao Hu, is currently a commander in the Western Camp, and everyone respectfully addresses him as Commander Xiao in front of Xiao Rong. The second son, Xiao Lin, is a commander of a thousand men in the Vermilion Bird Guard of the Imperial Guard, and everyone respectfully addresses him as Commander Xiao. Xiao Yu is the only civil official among the three brothers, and the respectful titles people give him change according to his official rank.
Xiao Rong snorted, "As an imperial censor, he should have kept the affairs of the Imperial Censorate confidential. I don't blame him for that. Last time I was confused and still treated him like a child. I'm sorry for making you all laugh."
The dukes and marquises could no longer laugh. It was because Xiao Yu impeached the former crown prince for his ineffective disaster relief that the emperor considered changing the heir apparent, forcing the former crown prince into a desperate act of digging his own grave. Whoever the new crown prince is, he will remember Xiao Yu's contributions. Perhaps once the new emperor ascends the throne, Xiao Yu will become a favorite of the new emperor.
Therefore, they were only envious of Xiao Rong, that scoundrel!
Since Xiao Rong didn't bother his son, the other ministers had nothing to watch and became increasingly anxious.
The Prince of Qi, the Prince of Shun, and the Prince of Fu, who were standing at the front, either frowned, wiped their sweat, or acted as if nothing was wrong, but they were all a little flustered. This was because Xiao Yu had offended their father and the Crown Prince in the previous two big incidents, which made it hard for them not to suspect that Xiao Yu was going to impeach another noble person this time. And among all the civil and military officials present, who was more noble than them?
Regardless of everyone's worries, when the time came, Eunuch Ma summoned all the officials into the palace.
After the incident of deposing the crown prince, Emperor Yongcheng's spirits were clearly not as good as before. His head was full of silver hair and it was hard to find a single black hair. His shoulders were also becoming more and more hunched.
As soon as Emperor Yongcheng sat on the dragon throne, his back was still fairly straight. He glanced down and saw Xiao Yu wearing a xiezhi crown and ceremonial robes. Emperor Yongcheng let out a cold laugh that was heard by all the officials in the front row. Then he put his hand on the armrest of the dragon throne, slumped back in the chair, and sighed as he looked up at the carved beams and painted rafters above the hall: "Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu, it's you again. I'm afraid of your appearance. Tell me, who are you going to impeach today? It's not one of my sons again, is it?"
Upon hearing this, Prince Shun broke out in a cold sweat. Look, even his father thinks the same way!
A few days ago, he went out to buy birds and was scolded by the princess. Suddenly, Prince Shun was very afraid that Xiao Yu would impeach him for disrespecting his deceased brother!
Wait a minute, my sister and sister-in-law have gone to play cards. If Xiao Yu really impeaches him, he will expose his sister and sister. Father Emperor loves his sister the most and will not punish her, so he will not punish him either!
After quickly wiping away the sweat, Prince Shun glanced at his second brother, Prince Qi, on his left.
King Qi: "..." Could it be that the third prince also covets the throne and has done something behind the scenes to frame him?
His glare made Prince Shun even more fearful, and his evasive gaze was interpreted by Prince Qi as a guilty conscience.
Just then, Prince Qi heard Xiao Yu's clear and powerful voice: "Your Majesty, the other day I received a petition from Song Changcai, a resident of Boye County, Gaoyang Commandery, Jizhou, who claims that his daughter, Song Zhuer, was bought as a maid in Prince Qi's mansion seven years ago. One year and four months after she entered the mansion, the steward sent her a letter and twenty taels of silver, saying that Song Zhuer had died from a cold. Just last month, Song Changcai learned from the slave trader who bought Song Zhuer that Song Zhuer was beaten to death by Prince Qi. Therefore, he submitted a petition to the Censorate through the Supervising Censor. Today, I am impeaching Prince Qi for abusing his power to kill a maid in his mansion, in accordance with the Law of Litigation of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I implore Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly!"
"You're talking nonsense! I don't know any Song Zhuer at all!" Prince Qi didn't have the good temper of the former crown prince. After stepping out of the line, he pointed at Xiao Yu and gave him a good scolding.
Xiao Yu ignored him and only glanced at the Palace Attendant Censor who was in charge of supervising the court ceremonies of all officials.
Before the Imperial Censor could speak, Emperor Yongcheng first rebuked Prince Qi, saying, "Don't be so presumptuous!"
King Qi then looked up at his father, the emperor, and cried out urgently, "Father, I am innocent! Someone must be trying to frame me!"
As he spoke, King Qi glared fiercely at King Shun.
Prince Shun: "..."
Emperor Yongcheng turned his head and closed his eyes briefly. Without looking at Prince Qi again, he summoned four Imperial Guards to escort Prince Qi back to his residence. He then ordered the Grand Censor Fan Yan to lead a team to the residence to investigate the case.
This was a minor case, very easy to investigate. The Prince's residence had a register of all the slaves they had bought over the years, and several brokerage firms in the capital also kept records of buying and selling people. Knowing they couldn't hide it any longer, the Prince and his wife simply stopped trying to conceal it and insisted that Song Zhuer had broken the rules and tried to climb into the Prince's bed. When the Princess found out, she whipped her a few times as punishment. After the whipping, the Princess arranged for a doctor to treat Song Zhuer, but Song Zhuer was too weak and couldn't withstand the whipping.
Whether it was a powerful family or an ordinary official's wealthy family, they all had the right to punish their servants who violated the family rules. However, the "Law of the Great Zhou Dynasty on Fighting and Litigation" clearly stipulated that if a master killed a servant who had committed a crime without seeking legal recourse, he would be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane; if he killed a servant who had committed no crime, he would be punished with one year of penal servitude.
Therefore, regardless of the reasons given by the King and Queen of Qi, their act of whipping Song Zhuer and causing her death from the whipping wounds constituted a violation of the law.
Fan Yan reported the case to Emperor Yongcheng.
At the court meeting on September 23, Emperor Yongcheng announced his punishments for Prince Qi and his wife: Princess Qi had a reason to whip Song Zhuer, but she should not have been too harsh, so she was punished by being confined to her home for a year to reflect on her mistakes; Prince Qi was punished for failing to manage his household properly, so he was fined half a year's salary and rank, and was also ordered to compensate Song Zhuer's parents with two hundred taels of silver.
For Song Zhuer, who died unjustly, the punishment given to Prince Qi and his wife was far too lenient. But for Prince Qi, who was determined to seize the throne, and Princess Qi, who was arrogant and domineering, being suddenly accused of a crime and losing the emperor's favor at such a crucial moment was tantamount to taking the throne of the Great Zhou Dynasty right out of their hands!
Whom should we hate?
Regardless of whether the mastermind was Prince Shun or Prince Fu, as princes and princesses, Prince Qi and his wife could not openly take action against those two couples. Therefore, they could only vent their anger on the censors who impeached them!
Princess Qi was even angrier than Prince Qi, because she had just met Luo Fu and given her a kind look, and now Luo Fu's husband was impeaching her! Given Princess Qi's temperament, she really wanted to take a whip and give Luo Fu a few lashes, regardless of whether Luo Fu was pregnant or not. However, firstly, her wise father-in-law and virtuous mother-in-law were still around, so Princess Qi dared not act recklessly; secondly, she was under house arrest and couldn't leave the house for a whole year!
While Princess Qi was trapped in the palace and raging at the servants around her, Prince Qi, who had only been fined a salary, personally went to wait for Xiao Yu on the road he would inevitably take back to the palace. He was not stupid; he would not make a move near the capital, nor could he send the palace guards over, because if he beat Xiao Yu, he would at most be scolded by his father, but it was a serious crime for his subordinates to beat up a court official, and beating up an imperial censor would be an immediate death sentence.
King Qi wanted to personally beat Xiao Yu and vent his anger.
However, Prince Qi blocked Xiao Yu for three consecutive days, and Xiao Yu was busy at the Censorate for three days straight, only leaving when the city gates were about to close. How could His Highness Prince Qi have that kind of patience? After failing to block Xiao Yu and instead running into Xiao Rong, Xiao Hu, and Xiao Lin in turn, Prince Qi's pent-up anger grew stronger and stronger.
After discovering that Xiao Yu was deliberately returning late, the Prince of Qi chose an alleyway that Xiao Yu would definitely pass through, but was definitely not the alleyway that Xiao Rong, Xiao Hu, and Xiao Lin would definitely pass through, and planned to go there to wait for him when it was getting dark.
Xiao Yu knew he had to be wary of Prince Qi's retaliation, but how could he possibly calculate how long Prince Qi would be willing to keep watch on him? Moreover, Prince Qi could send people to monitor his movements, but neither he nor the entire Xiao family could send anyone to keep an eye on a prince, as monitoring a prince was a crime.
Fortunately, Xiao Yu had a mouth.
As the court assembly on September 26th was about to end, Eunuch Ma, as was customary, asked the officials if they had anything else to report.
The officials who had been standing for an hour were all tired and longed for the court session to end so they could go to their offices to eat something and fill their stomachs. No one spoke up, but today someone stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have a concern, but I don't know if I should tell Your Majesty."
The officials in front and behind did not need to look up or turn around to recognize who the voice belonged to.
Emperor Yongcheng: "...Xiao Yu, what are your concerns?"
Xiao Yu glanced in the direction of Prince Qi and said, “Your Majesty, on the evening of the 23rd, my father encountered Prince Qi on his way back to the mansion. Prince Qi’s expression was unfriendly, and my father scolded me that night, blaming me for impeaching Prince Qi. On the evening of the 24th, my elder brother encountered Prince Qi in the same place on his way back to the mansion. Seeing Prince Qi’s unfriendly expression, he worried that Prince Qi might want to beat me up. Last night, my second elder brother also encountered Prince Qi in the same place. Seeing Prince Qi’s unfriendly expression, he advised me to choose a day to bring gifts to Prince Qi to apologize.”
King Qi: "..."
Xiao Rong: "..."
Xiao Yu looked up at the emperor on the dragon throne and said, "Your Majesty, I am worried that Prince Qi has appeared on my way back to my residence for several days in a row. What is his intention? However, I have long heard of Prince Qi's bravery and dare not ask him in person. I can only take this opportunity of court to ask Your Majesty to enlighten me."
Someone couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Emperor Yongcheng glanced at the man and questioned the flushed Prince Qi, "Prince Qi, tell me yourself, why did you stand guard on the only road Xiao Yu would take back to his residence? Could it be that you resent Xiao Yu's impeachment and are plotting revenge against him?"
That was what the King of Qi thought, but he couldn't say it. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and said, "Your subject was wrong first, and has been repenting recently. How could I go and report Xiao Yu for making things worse? Your subject, your subject did go to wait for Xiao Yu, in order to thank him in person for making your subject realize the shortcomings in managing the household."
Emperor Yongcheng looked at Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief and said to Prince Qi, "To know one's mistakes and correct them is of utmost importance. Your Highness is magnanimous and does not hold a grudge against me. I am very comforted and dare not accept Your Highness's thanks again."
King Qi managed a very difficult forced smile.
Emperor Yongcheng stood up and said impatiently, "Since you have already thanked me, you are not allowed to wait for Xiao Yu again. Do you not even look in the mirror and see what a fierce-looking person you are?"
King Qi: "..."
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Author's Note: Haha, 100 little red envelopes! See you at the second update tonight!
P.S.: "If a master kills a slave who has committed a crime without seeking legal recourse, he shall be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane; if he kills an innocent slave, he shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude." This is from the Tang Dynasty Code.
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